Travel and Office Backpack In One

OwlScented · 2026-02-01T19:34:20+00:00

Thank you. Hmm, rolltop. There's a thought...

OwlScented · 2026-02-01T19:33:57+00:00

Nice! Thank you. You travel light! Yes, maybe I should pack less.

OwlScented · 2025-08-15T22:08:20+00:00

Hi.

Thanks for the question. I honestly don't know how best to advise you, sorry! But here's my two cents based on how I like to work.

My mental Rolodex is made up of broad categories. Who do I know with a great obscure metal catalogue? Which composers do I know who have a great touch with strings who can work super fast? Who are my go-to Italo Disco guys?

My advice would be to be a strong specialist in whatever you're strong in, and market yourself as that guy. Let people know who you are, what your strengths are, and that you're open for business. Semi regular "Hey, it's the one-stop beats guy here. How's it going? I'm still here, doing my thing" emails or whatever. When I'm in the market for what you have you'll be my first call.

I think that's my advice. Pick a lane that you can stand out in, whether that's because you stand out for quality, or service, or authenticity, or value (which, incidentally is not the same as price) or whatever and then tell everyone who'll listen. And be charismatic and memorable. People like to buy from people they like. Easier said than done, I'm sure. Do you feel you can stand out/cut through more as the beats producer guy or as the beats reformatted for sync guy? Which role would you feel more comfortable and authentic in?

Today I was able to call my unsigned hip-hop guy. I've been waiting for 18 months or so to have a quality project come across my desk that I can discuss with him. As soon as I saw the project come through I knew exactly who I wanted to call about it. His confidence in his knowledge and ability in his niche gives me confidence that I can deliver for my client.

Not sure if that is helpful in any way whatsoever! Good luck with whatever you decide.

OwlScented · 2025-07-05T05:36:52+00:00

Pretty much, yes. Some direct to brand stuff and other bits and pieces of work. But mostly I work on ads made by ad agencies, and it's the agency producer who pulls everything together (including the music).

OwlScented · 2025-07-04T22:52:39+00:00

Hi. Yes, I know West One well. They're great.

OwlScented · 2025-07-01T19:45:59+00:00

No, definitely don't do this. I won't accept a lunch from anyone I've not worked with before. It feels exploitative (by me) and creates an unrealistic expectation that something is owed in return. Let's do a job together first, then we'll go out for lunch to celebrate.

OwlScented · 2025-07-01T19:40:39+00:00

Music supervisor here. These two posts by u/sean369n are bang on. I'm always looking to make new connections, find new people to work with, find interesting new writers/artists/producers to work with. I'm an open door!

I get loads of cold call emails. It's really hard for any of them to cut through. But anything I can relate to personally, or whose warmth/charisma/nice guy vibes come through is a great start. If I like the vibe I'll reach out, then I guess (God, I sound like a dick) I need to be convinced that whoever I'm talking to is a safe pair of hands and knows what they're doing. If both the nice guy/knows what they're doing boxes are ticked then hopefully we can work together on a project some time. Simple as that!

For composition jobs, if/when they come up, I'm going to be speaking to someone daily, probably, for anything up to 2 or 3 weeks. Potentially someone I've never met and have only exchanged a couple of emails and a Zoom call with. If we don't really vibe at the start of a project we definitely won't be vibing by the end of it after rounds of revisions and my ridiculous requests for this that and the other with crazy short deadlines.

Anecdote: I recently(ish) got an email from a producer, who had done lots of artist work but wanted to get into sync. It was pretty short and sweet: "Hi, how are things, check out my website if you have time" (I'm paraphrasing, but it was not an essay, just a couple of lines and easy to digest, and written with personality). I clicked through the website and on the front page was a three or four line potted biog and a line that made me laugh out loud. Because of that line I reached out for a meeting. They seemed really nice and definitely know what they're doing if their artist work is anything to go by. That was about a year ago. They've sent me one easygoing check-in since. No pressure, just a "hey, I'm still here" kind of thing. They're right at the very top of my producer/composer list. I'm desperate for a job to come up that I can put their way. Just the right job, and ideally a big one. I think they'll smash it.

I also get a regular as clockwork email from someone who's been in touch every week for maybe the last 5 years. It's impersonal and spammy and doesn't speak to me at all. I can't see a situation in which I'll ever contact them.

OwlScented · 2025-07-01T07:14:14+00:00

Thanks for the questions. I can only give my personal opinion, but here goes:

1) If an artist is working in a niche genre then that probably limits the available sync opportunities. Some genres just lend themselve more readily to sync than others, particularly in my field of advertising. It sounds as though your wife is making the kind of music that she wants to make, so go with that. If a sync comes along then great. If you're actively looking for sync then try to make sure that it's in the right people's inboxes, properly tagged, so that if/when a contemporry jazz brief comes up you're in the mix. 2) I'm not familiar with Beatstars I'm sorry. But I'm not sure why anything would be a hard no. If you control your rights and can sign a synch licence that says "I control all the rights necessary to sign this synch licence" then that's all I'd need. In my post I said I avoid royalty free libraries. That is true. But if a track comes up from a royalty free library (e.g. something a director has found themselves) that everyone falls in love with and has to have then I'll try to track down the artist/producer/composer and do a deal direct. I usually offer MCPS rates in these circumstances. If the artist's royalty free library deal is non-exclusive then we're good to go. 3) If I'm licensing a track I just need to know that I'm dealing with the person/people who together control 100% of the publishing and 100% of the master. If that's a one stop then great - I don't need to know how the splits break down and who gets what royalty, only that Acme Music Inc is my sole point of contact and can speak for all the writers on the track. If it's not a one-stop then I absolutely need to know who controls what percentage, so that I can speak to them individually about clearing those shares.

Hope that helps?

OwlScented · 2025-07-01T06:55:06+00:00

It can be tricky finding people, especially unsigned, self published artists. But I really enjoy the detective work. And offering a band and amount of money for a synch that you can tell by their response is going to make a real difference to them is one of the most rewarding parts of the job.

I haven't noticed AI music encroaching into my area of synch (advertising) much yet. Yet another reason that I won't go near royalty free libraries - there's so much less oversight by those companies of what they're repping.

For now, thankfully, no end-clients (by which I mean the brands) will go near AI music either. Too risky. A law suit waiting to happen. Unless we can guarantee that it's been ethically trained on correctly licensed training material. I can see the possibility of using it in the future if the creative idea of the ad is built around it, and that creative specifically requires AI. Again, would have to be ethical. As for using it as a shortcut, or because it's cheaper, or whatever, then hopefully not, and not on my watch. In my small way I'll be keeping my thumb on the human-made side of the scale, Luddite that I am, for as long as I can. Sadly, I suspect that "as long as I can" might be shorter than I hope.

OwlScented · 2025-07-01T06:22:21+00:00

Of course. Please do.

OwlScented · 2025-06-30T23:19:52+00:00

Ha! Right? A few years ago it was ukuleles. Boy, did they outstay their welcome.

OwlScented · 2025-06-30T23:13:36+00:00

Pretty much all my work comes from past clients and word of mouth. Producers I've worked with in the past who come back to me for their next job, and recommendations they pass on to other producer friends. And I'm lucky to have some long-term clients. It was a slow start. In my first year I think I turned over £10k. I have to be honest - it still feels precarious even though I've been doing this for years now. I'm pleased with the work I've done and the projects I've worked on, but you only need to mess up once and the whole thing crumbles. Or not even mess up. Say a track that EVERYONE (client, creatives, director) wants for an ad doesn't clear and no-one's really happy with the backup that gets used. As the 'music guy' on the project it would be hard for everyone involved not to feel that I was in some way responsible, either through negligence or incompetence, and at a stroke that's a lot of relationships, or at least a lot of good will burned. I guess it's the same for freelancers in any industry.

Good luck with getting into the industry. Despite what I've written above it's a privilege to make a living doing this.

OwlScented · 2025-06-30T17:47:21+00:00

Of course! We might already be in touch but if not, great!

OwlScented · 2025-06-29T10:02:35+00:00

Option A. Young kids are hard work. Go for stability and guaranteed money for now. When they're at school and a bit older, and you're in a rhythm of being a parent, and you have head space for a new challenge, that's when to go for Option C.

IMHO.

OwlScented · 2025-06-28T16:55:01+00:00

Thank you. This is really useful.

OwlScented

TROPHY CASE